Liberation day fun

Whilst in Guernsey we always seem to enjoy ourselves, no matter what the weather. This trip, it was glorious! Sun, little wind and generally a proper holiday atmosphere about the place. In fact the Nordhavn rally thing really expanded when there were three of us here - Vesper a 68 arrived and of course made us and Zephyros look totally insignificant. We had just started the annual polishing and teak cleaning torture and so seeing the amount of gelcoat on a 68, we can live with being insignificant. For some internal images of her, look at launch information.

This is what a 68 looks like outside:

Big innit!

Wednesday 9th is Liberation day in Guernsey and we had to go and watch the parades and sample the stalls and activities. First up, the parade. The Gurkha guys looked as smart as ever:

and once the parade was over behaved with total dignity too. Impressive indeed.

The clerics seemed to be whispering to each other:

Way less discipline than the Gurkha regiment but as it is a church parade I guess they thought they could get away with it. Some military types looked very stern and carried large swords:

One band leader seems to be training for a job in the police directing traffic:

and one of the "civic dignitaries" appeared to have escaped from Men in Black:

More seriously it was great to see the island turn out en masse for the event and to celebrate their freedom. After the parade we retired to the terrace at Moores hotel for excellent coffee and cake. Andrew and Linda's mum who got a mention earlier having been expecting a trip to Dartmouth and ending up in Guernsey didn't seem too distressed:

We don't think she is a flight risk now and we reckon that we can call off the suicide watch. She seems to have come to terms with being whisked abroad. OK, "whisking" is hard at Nordhavn speeds.

During the day we enjoyed a most splendid Asian late lunch courtesy of Atan Ahan on board Zephyros. We also had the great pleasure of meeting Robert and Kathy, the owners of Vesper the Nordhavn 68 that was gracing the harbour. They are enjoying a serious cruising lifestyle, came over here via Greenland and Iceland, made some forays far north and are now heading to warmer climes.

They were moved into the middle of the harbour and asked to moor against a pontoon that is normally used by local boats awaiting the tide to get into their marina berths. Vesper looked quite majestic there - the pontoon is now known as Vesper island.

Walking around town afterwards there were all sorts of strange groups, uniforms and colours visible. Many locals were dressed in period costume and one couple were dead ringers for Mr and Mrs Churchill. These folks seemed to be having a Liberation deliberation:

We were treated to a flypast by an old Dakota but owing to the new safety rules it had to stay a little too far away for the camera lens:

Some retired lifeboats were open to visitors in the marina but Andrew refused to open Zephyros to TGT's (remember, TGT= the guided tour):

Some lovely old wooden boats were dressed for the occasion too:

As darkness arrived, Vesper the Nordhavn 68 looked at home attached to Vesper island in front of Castle Cornet:

To round off the day, there was a fireworks display from the harbour breakwater - with a population of under 70.000 people we reckon that the display cost them a few pounds each. Or the monthly entertainment budget of one of the local banks. It was a spectacular end to a great day:

A great day in lovely sunshine. Thanks Guernsey (and Robert and Kathy too)